The Finocchiaro CLP Government has claimed it has overseen 184 “new” officers joining the NT Police since the August 2024 election, but failed to disclose that 105 experienced officers left the force since October, while the 184 figure is also disputed by the NT Police force itself, which says the sworn officer count has only increased by 48 over that time period.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has been named a finalist for the McKinnon Prize for political leader of the year for her “hardline stance” on crime, “channelling public sentiment into decisive leadership” and for doing what most chief ministers do by taking on the role of Police Minister, as questions remain over who nominated her for the award and when.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government will roll the Office of the ICAC into a new “Integrity and Ethics Commission”, following a secret review into the NT’s integrity bodies that the Chief Minister confusingly says she ordered only a few weeks ago.
The Finocchiaro CLP Government has pulled its controversial reforms to the Anti-Discrimination Act two days before they were set to be passed in Parliament, with the Opposition accusing the CLP of “incompetence” over the bungle and the Attorney-General claiming the bill was pulled because the government is too busy with other things.
EDITORIAL: Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro is openly dodging media scrutiny and public accountability of her actions that should alarm voters and every journalist in the Territory, especially considering she once condemned Michael Gunner for “ignoring a media outlet”, stifling the free press and obstructing the public’s right to question its elected officials.
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro joined her deeply unpopular Labor predecessors by fleeing the NT Independent Tuesday morning when confronted by this masthead outside ABC Darwin’s studio, which followed her evading all media at the NT Police Association annual conference last week and failing to hold a press conference in six weeks. WATCH THE VIDEO
Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro fled the NT Police Association annual conference Friday morning after delivering a “tone deaf” speech and facing criticism, refusing to talk to police union delegates and the media, despite her office earlier stating she would make time to answer questions following the conference speeches.
EDITORIAL: The Finocchiaro CLP Government doesn’t seem to understand the only way to make a political scandal go away is to confront it head-on, complete with resignations, if not from the politicians overseeing the dysfunction, then from those who engaged in and benefitted from it, with a thoroughly independent investigation to follow.
Territorians have a right to know how $25 million of taxpayer dollars are being spent at the Darwin Waterfront Corporation every year, an independent MLA says, following a compromised parliamentary hearing that did not fully investigate unadvertised jobs, poor governance practices and an unusual overlap of board and executive roles, but the Finocchiaro CLP Government have refused to explain how it intends to deal with the matter now, while ruling out a proper investigation.
The way the Finocchiaro CLP Government has implemented its plan to legally arm Territorians with pepper spray as of next month ignored “normal parliamentary processes” and could lead to users of the spray not being held legally responsible for causing death or serious harm, which an NT Greens MLA says creates the potential for “vigilantism” and racially-motivated attacks.
A new report by the government’s Public Accounts Committee into the Darwin Waterfront Corporation has raised fresh concerns about ongoing “governance failures” and a culture of cover-up at the troubled corporation – that received more than $25 million of taxpayer money last year – with one committee member stating the brief public inquiry held in June was “fundamentally inadequate” and permitted the corporation to avoid accountability by withholding key documents.
Territory Labor appears not to have learned any lessons from an ICAC investigation into its misuse of public funds during the 2020 election campaign, with the Auditor-General finding the now-Opposition members used taxpayer-funded staff to produce party-political social media posts in recent months, in breach of the Public Information Act.
